英語聽力文摘 雨中“漫步者”

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Ants Out In the Rain

Don: Oh, no, Yaël it's starting to rain! And I left my ant farm outside, now my ants were drown and die.!

Yaël: Come on, Don. I'm guessing plenty of ants drown every time it rains, which makes me wonder how do ground nesting ants cope with rain.

D: Actually, ant species that burrow have different flood survival strategies. I mean, nest design alone can go a long way. Some species make sure to build their nests in sandy or well-drained soil that absorbs moisture and dries quickly. And others build mounds with waterproof roofs.

Y: Pretty clever!

D: Oh, that's nothing. One tropical species of ants has an alarm and evacuation plan for flooding. At the first sign of rain, minor worker ants start racing through the nest’s tunnels, mobilizing the entire nest is less than thirty seconds. Odor trails then direct everyone down unobstructed tunnels to dry areas in the nest or–if necessary–to those exits that aren’t blocked by water.

Y: Now, that's pretty amazing!

D: And some species have flood plans that even top that. A species of fire ants in the southwest leave their nests and form a large mass around the queen and her brood, basically acting like a living raft that floats until the waters recede, or it gets anchored on grass or bushes. Even though some die, enough survive–usually including the queen–so that once the waters go down, they can return to the nest or build a new one and go back to business as usual.

雨中的螞蟻

Don: 天吶，Yaël，下雨了!可是我把我的螞蟻農場忘在了外面了，現(xiàn)在我的螞蟻們肯定都被淹死了!

Yaël: Don，你想多了吧。每次一下雨就會有很多的螞蟻被水淹，我就想不明白螞蟻究竟是怎么在雨天存活下來的。

D: 事實上，螞蟻這些挖洞居住的動物有他們的防洪生存策略。我的意思是說，就只洞穴的設計這一點來看，里面都是有門道的。有的會吧洞穴挖在沙地里，有的會挖在那種易吸收又易排出的排水狀況良好的土地里，有的甚至會建起防水的土堆。

Y: 相當?shù)穆斆髀?

D: 這還算不上什么!熱帶的一種螞蟻還有一套洪災警報及撤退計劃：一旦發(fā)現(xiàn)在下雨，小工蟻會在30秒內跑遍所有巢穴內的通道，通知所有的螞蟻。憑著氣味，他們會轉移到巢穴內干燥的地方，如若有需要，他們會撤退到未被水堵住的出口。

Y: 這個簡直太了不起了!

D: 有些種類的螞蟻比上一個還要厲害。在西南部，有一種火蟻，下雨時，螞蟻們會離開巢穴。由工蟻們圍繞著蟻后和蟻卵集中在一起，這樣就像是一個活動的筏。直到水退去，或是在草地或是灌木叢“靠岸”，他們才會散去。雖然說有的螞蟻會被淹死，但大多數(shù)都存活了下來——當然，這里面肯定包括了蟻后。保存實力的他們在退水后便可以返回巢穴或是建一個新的巢穴，像以前一樣安然的生活著。